The Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard is a standard for wireless communication of high-speed data for mobile devices and data terminals. LTE is based on the GSM/EDGE (Global System for Mobile Communications/Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution) and UMTS/HSPA (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System/High Speed Packet Access) network technologies. Relative to GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSPA, LTE may increase the capacity and speed of the wireless network based on improvements to the radio interface and improvements to the core network.
The LTE standard is based on packet-switched IP networking and does not have inherent support for circuit-switched voice calls. The Voice Over LTE (VoLTE) standard is one approach that may be used to provide voice calls in a network based on LTE.
At the radio access network (RAN) level in an LTE network, base stations, called eNodeBs (“eNBs”), may include radios that provide wireless connectivity to mobile user devices, called user equipments (UEs). Voice calls implemented using VoLTE may require, at the RAN level, reservation of a guaranteed minimum bandwidth. Because the radio resources of an eNodeB are finite, it can be important to efficiently use the radio resources of the eNodeBs.